Monthly Archives: August 2017

Building on my last post, there are no perfect measuring tools for innovation. And this is a challenge that is made even more difficult as every organization is unique regarding the type of business it is in, the presence and maturity of an innovation strategy and most importantly, and in this context, the ability to measure innovation. Thus, the lifeline an organization has is to hope for the identification of ‘indicators’ that may reflect changes in the firm. And some signs can be considered best practices in some industry/sector. The key performance indicators should be optimized, in delivering results by aligning the measurement with a strategy. Particularly, if one is to align the case study, to the digital industry, it is said that digitation has a measurable effect on economic growth and job creation.

Beñat, Soumitra, and Bruno (nd) stated, in emerging markets “a comprehensive digital boost could help life, and over half a billion people out of poverty over the next decade.” This is because of the digital sector, contributed and it’s a transformer of industries, such as healthcare, agricultures, transportation and so on. The World Economic Forum and Index calculated the Networked Readiness Index. i.e., based on their capacity to exploit the opportunities offered by the digital age. The size is determined by the quality of the regulatory, business and innovation environments, the degree of preparedness, the actual usage of ICTs, as well as the societal and economic impacts of ICTs. The assessment is based on a broad range of best practice indicators and derived from access to the Internet. To which includes, adult literacy, mobile phone usage rate, and the availability of venture capital. Besides, indicators such as patent applications and e-government services gauge, the social and economic impact of digitization as mentioned by (Beñat, Soumitra, and Bruno, nd). However, such key indicators become too large to manage because of the numerous metrics involved. Mainly because the best practices of companies in the digital sector are aligned towards value delivery and attributed to service offered. To which, an organization uses software tools in calculating its KPI’s. However, they fail to exploit the potential of the performance metrics and best practices, because the human elements are eliminated by such tools in most cases. And some of the best practices are detailed below for measuring innovation through the key indicators.

Jeff and Eric (nd) mentioned, and suggested two metrics that are further elaborated, i.e., cost per contract and customer satisfaction rate. The last two metrics in the list are essential to understanding. I.e., the ‘Agent’ Satisfaction is important because it is so strongly correlated with many important parameters, which includes the Cost per Contact and Customer Satisfaction. “And the final metric, what we call an aggregate metric because it provides an overall measure of Service Desk performance, is the Balanced Score” (Jeff and Eric (nd). Although, if the listed below can be implemented correctly, this guarantees and shows how performance can be simplified. And serves as best practice indicators, when aligning KPI with the overall strategy of an organization.

Measuring Innovation through the Key Indicators

1. 1. Track and trend performance over time
2. 2. Benchmark performance vs. industry peers
3. 3. Identify strengths and weaknesses in the Service Desk
4. 4. Diagnose and understand the underlying drivers of performance gaps
5. 5. Prescribe actions to improve performance
6. 6. Establish performance goals for both individuals, and the Service Desk overall

Further Reading 

Beñat B. O., Soumitra D., and Bruno L., Editors, (nd) The Global Information Technology Report 2013 [Online] Available: http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_GITR_Report_2013.pdf [Accessed: July 20, 2015]

Jeff R and Eric Z., (nd) The Seven Most Important Performance Indicators for the Service Desk [Online] Available: http://www.thinkhdi.com/~/media/HDICorp/Files/LibraryArchive/Rumburg_SevenKPIs.pdf [Accessed: July 20, 2015]

In response to my post, ‘leading teams in uncertain environment part two,’ a contributor sent me a comment via email, and linked stakeholder management and risk management together, which I found fascinating. The contributor went further to state, having a positive risk management strategy in place will also aid a project executive in dealing with uncertainties, and I affirm. The two propositions are detailed under the project strategy concept presented by (Karlos, 2007; Andrew and Jim, 2004; Aaron, 2001). One of the risks, all project face is the tendency for stakeholders to make different assumptions about the expectation of a project. The lack of alignment between stakeholders causes a significant risk to a project. And as discussed in the previous post, this needs to be managed effectively. i.e. to minimize project risk, a project manager needs to be competent in determining the expectations of internal and external stakeholders (David and Mike, nd; Adriene, nd). And by understanding stakeholder expectation, one is effectively able to reduce or eliminate one if the biggest risk that threatens a project. Mehwish (2012) stated risk management is implemented by an individual that is aware of the risk associated with the project and employ different strategies to mitigate them. Although the tools highlight by Mignan (2005) will offer an advantage to control risk, in the age of multitasking, it is expected of project managers to be competent of managing risk from different angles.

In Patchin (2013) response to questions raised by WSJ, she mentioned the importance of prioritization i.e. taking another look at multidimensional look at risk, which involves putting a risk to the top of the priority list. Whereas, the elements with the highest likelihood or impact, will get the most attention from professionals. However, this calls for an extensive look at the probability of occurrence, and when there is a change, it shows a high likelihood to occur. The mentioned will instantly call for speed, i.e. “velocity” to be built directly into the technics of dynamically managing and accessing risk processes. Patchin (2013) went further to state, “risks may appear to have a minimum impact on their own merits. But threats don’t usually unfold in isolation. One risk event can trigger other related risks, contributing to a snowball effect in which different risks become connected and gain momentum, possibly leading to catastrophic events that can persist for long stretches of time.” Thus, as Tara (nd) stated, this calls for an effective risk management, which involves but not limited to planning, preparation, result, and evaluation of risk strategies, which is an element of project strategies put together at Eroe consulting. Indeed, from a wider look at risk, one can conclude that those responsible for risk management, should not be limited to, project managers, however, managing risk effectively, will require top management support and the project owners.

Further Reading

Adriene W., (nd) Stakeholder Management [Online] Available from: https://opentextbc.ca/projectmanagement/chapter/chapter­5­project­ stakeholders­project­management/ [Accessed: February 21, 2016]

Aaron J. Shenhar, Dov Dvir, Ofer Levy and Alan C. M., (2001) Project Success: A Multidimensional Strategic Concept strategy [Online] Available

from: https://irecanati.tau.ac.il/sites/nihul.tau.ac.il/files/media_server/Recanati/management/h [Accessed: February 21, 2016]

Andrew L., and Jim M., (2004) Project management: key tool for implementing strategy [Online] Available from: http://www.kepner­tregoe.com/PDFs/Articles/JofBusinessStrategyPM.pdf [Accessed:February 21, 2016]

David M., and Mike O., (nd) ; Engaging stakeholder for project success [Online] Available from: https://www.pmi.org/~/media/PDF/learning/engaging­stakeholders­project­success.ashx [Accessed: February 21, 2016]

Mehwish M., (2012) Risk Management: an Important Part of Project Management [Online] Available from: http://project­management.com/risk­management­an­important­part­of­project­management/ [Accessed: February 21, 2016]

Mignan, A, Landtwing, D, Kaestli, P, Mena, B, & Wiemer, S (2015), Induced seismicity risk analysis of the 2006 Basel, Switzerland, Enhanced Geothermal System Project; influence of uncertainties on risk mitigation, Geothermics, 53, pp. 133­146, GeoRef, [Online] Available from: www.ebscohost.com [Accessed: February 19, 2016]

Karlos A., Jaakko K., Perttu D., Miia M., (2007) What is project strategy? [Online] Available from: http://web.nchu.edu.tw/pweb/users/arborfish/lesson/10320.pdf [Accessed: February 21, 2016]

Patchin C., (2013) Risk Assessment: Answers to Five Frequently Asked Questions [Online] Available from: http://deloitte.wsj.com/riskandcompliance/2013/11/01/five­questions­on­current­trends­in­compliance­risk­management­2/ [Accessed: February 21, 2016]

Tara D., (nd) Why Is Risk Management Important to Project Success? Online] Available from: http://smallbusiness.chron.com/risk­management­important­project­success­56920.html [Accessed: February 21, 2016]